Replaced rear wheel bearing on Integra

My left rear was making noise, so I replaced it tonight.

After almost 17 years and 300K miles, the amount of rust under there was
horrendous.

The 32mm spindle nut came off in maybe two seconds with my electric impact
wrench. That wrench has so far not met its match; it has removed every bolt
asked of it, no matter how tight or rusted.

The bearing and hub (one unit) came off with no trouble at all, but it was
the splash shield that gave all the grief. It's held on by four 10mm bolts,
exactly the same bolts that hold the parking brake cover in place.

These bolts' heads were corroded to the point that they were round. I had
to Dremel them to some semblance of hexagonality, and ended up getting them
out by hammering a 9mm socket over top of the Dremeled hexes.

Three of the 10mm bolts are in blind holes, and came off without issue.
Unfortunately, one bolt is in a through hole. This one resisted all efforts
at removal and had to be drilled out, and the hole retapped.

I then had to do lots of sculptor-type hammering and chipping on the
trailing arm flange, which was very bumpy with rust. Sanding finished it
off.

I was going to take more photos, but I just wanted to rip through the job
and only took these four.
http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/misc/new_rr_wheel_bearing/

It looks so pretty now, I hate to drive it anywhere.

 

what did the axle stub look like? - that's the important bit.

 

I'm a long drive outside that.

All the parts came from an Acura dealer, and ran me about $225 plus tax.
The parts included:
Hub/bearing assembly (about $200)
Stake nut
Dust cover
Splash shield
4 bolts

 

The stub looked brand-new once I cleaned off the accumulated grease. The
grease looked like rust at first, but wasn't. You can see that grease in
the picture, on the inside of the bearing.
The inner bearing race does not turn, but is trapped firmly between the big
washer, stake nut (134 ft/lbs) and the rear face of the stub. This means
the grease simply accumulated in the tiny gap between hub and race. A
surprising amount of grease had escaped the bearing.

I believe there to be rust inside the bearing (that's how my front bearings
both failed), but I'd need to pay somebody to press the unit apart so I can
see. Don't want to spend the money for that right now.

They've changed the weather seal style on the new one's bearing. The old
one has a protruding lip that rides in a groove surrounding the stub. The
new one does not have this lip, just an enhanced sort of seal that's flush
with the bearng's face.

Now I wish I'd taken the time to take more pictures. What with all the rust
and drilling I had to deal with at the time, pictures seemed like too much
trouble. It was getting late and I needed the car for the morning.

 

If you are not re-using the hub or bearings... just pound the bearing
out with a hammer and drift. Knock the seals out with a hammer and chisle, to
look at the balls etc.. With a big vise and a big hammer, you can 'bust'
the bearing open. Always think saftey when pounding.

 

(M.A. Stewart) wrote in

I usually think saftey, especially when spelling isn't occupying my
thinking.

 

(M.A. Stewart) wrote in



Aren't you at Carleton University in Ottawa?

How come your spelling is so bad? Were you an "affirmative action"
appointee?

Are you aiming to be a government worker or something? They're not too
smart, you know. Powerful, but not intelligent. However, intelligence isn't
important so long as you have power, so...

 

i new that>>> it was a general comet for the kids who have never bustted
open a buring> i have bad esite (myopia... per the context of human
eyesight, literal) and would hate to have some kids hit with a flyin"
chunk O'steal< in the eyball> those burings are made with some hard
and brittle steal>

 

No. But it's a common misconception of people (especially those who
appear to be fixated on spelling/typo mistakes... i'm just kidding!) world
wide, who think FreeNet.Carleton is part of the University, and that the
members of the Freenet are somehow associated with the University. NCF
(National Capital Freenet) only uses the University's computer system, and
it's pipes to the Internet.

Some of the members of the National Capital Freenet are all over the world.
Some of them Telnet in, like me. You know Telnet. That old and slow (like your
car... I'm just kidding!) Internet system, which still works well (like
your car).

I answered that in the other my other response... and my optic nerve gave
me a bad headache when I re-read it... damn transpositions, et al..

Non.

Now you're getting political! Get back on your bearings (I'm just
kidding!)... people want to know more of your observations and conclusions
(re your high mileage rear wheel bearings). Well I assume they do... maybe
it's just me.

Non. Je ne parle pas francais... entre autres (et al.).

I would disagree a little bit. There are a few extremely bright
people in the government. It's the system... but waddya gonna do.

[I end with an antique cliche... hey, isn't that a french in word there,
and its missing the proper accent, damn english keyboard.]

"FIGHT THE POWER MAN... FIGHT THE POWER!!"

 

I have to commend you drive to keep, (Well, let's face it), a rolling
rust bucket on the road. I just hope that the structural integrity of
the body merits all that effort. My old '76 Civic rusted out from under
me at 160K back in the mid 1980's. Mechanically, it was nearly perfect!

<snif>

JT

(Who will hopefully never have to return to the rust belt)

 

Me too. There are parts of the body I only get to inspect at greatly
dilated intervals, like the windshield pinchweld. I just hope those are
OK.

Everything I CAN see is fine, with no rust. Or if there is any, I catch
it in time to get rid of it before it becomes irreversible.

The '70s were bad for rust for just about everybody, especially Honda.

I wish I didn't have to live here.

Consumer Reports just now has an issue out on how to keep your car going
more than 200K miles. They illustrate the article with some anecdotes
from people with examples of high-mileage vehicles. I noticed all of
them are from low-rust areas.

I almost want to write to CR and point out that living in the Northeast
makes 200K miles difficult to attain for the simple reason of rust. They
don't mention rust anywhere.

 

My discover that my ol' Honda was no longer safe to drive is when I
could bend by hand the brackets that held the rear suspension together.

I quickly retired the car and bought a $300 Gremlin that lasted over
five years but the mileage (mpg) sucked compared to the Honda. That ol'
AMC 258 2bbl in line six really had great performance though..

JT